Subway Story

A few weeks ago I turned in the final art for my next book, Subway Story. This will be the second book that I've written and illustrated. It's about a subway car named Jessie who comes to New York in the 1960's, and the life that she lives on and off the tracks. It's based on a real subway car and inspired by a visit I made to the New York Transit Museum.



Here I am behaving recklessly on a recent research trip to said museum (inside R-33 WF car number 9306):



And here is the actual final art for the book in transit to Random House, on the subway. (In it's dignified garbage bag of transport.)
This project has been underway for a long time, so getting to make this trip meant a lot to me!



Hooray!!

Here's an unrelated subway car fact which will be familiar to anyone who's already been subjected to my trivial bits of subway information while riding the train with me...

In her final working years, Jessie had a brick red paint scheme (which was applied to many older trains - not a particular model of subway car - which gave them the nickname 'Redbirds'.) The Redbirds were retired from the tracks and replaced with newer models, like this R-160.

The flecks of red that you can see in the floor of this train are a little tribute to the iconic Redbirds!


Stay tuned for more Subway Story soon!

20 Notable Poetry Books of 2009

Good news!



It was just announced that Incredible Inventions was chosen as one of the NCTE Notable Poetry Books of 2009! The National Council of Teachers of English has put together a great list of books, and I'm so happy that Incredible Inventions is a part of it.

Many thanks to the NCTE Excellence in Poetry Committee!